Where Do You Stand?

Imam Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah said:

"O you of little resolve, where do you stand upon this path? Adam found it difficult and Nuh lamented because of it, while Allaah’s Khaleel Ibraaheem was thrown into a pit of fire due to it. Isma’eel was laid upon his side ready to be sacrificed for its sake, and while upon it Yusuf was sold for a cheap price and then falsely cast into prison for many years. Zakariyah was sawed in half, and Yahya was slaughtered due to it. Ayyub suffered great distress, while Dawood cried copiously, and ‘Isaa cured the wretched poor of their diseases and walked with wild beasts due to it. And how many, how many forms of difficulty and hardship did the Messenger Muhammad (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) face while proceeding upon it – yet you live through amusements and distractions!"

[al-Fawaaid: Page 41]

Who Can Cure Him?

You'd think that you live to see the next day. Day after day, you do the same thing: wake up, pray, start my day, come home, pray, time for bed, sleep then thinking you'll do the same thing again.

But, what if you don't ?

When your death day comes, will you know that not one can cure you and that your time to return to your lord has come.

I was thinking of this as I was listening to Surah al-Qiyamah. As I was listening, the following ayah came up and struck me.


27. Waqeela man raqin

When I heard that I found it so agonizing. The "Raaq" was very long and saddening. When I went to check it out, it meant (in interpretation and meaning):

27. And it will be said: "Who can cure him (and save him from death)?"

SubhanAllah. Who, who can cure him? One will know it's his death day, there's no cure, it's just time.

28. And he (the dying person) will conclude that it was (the time) of parting (death);
29. And one leg will be joined with another leg (shrouded)
30. The drive will be, on that Day, to your Lord (Allâh)!

To Allah we belong and to him we shall return to. It's just a matter of time...

May Allah help us benefit from our time. Ameen.
ASA.

It Has Been Narrated by...

Narrated Shaddad bin Aus :

The Prophet said " The best way for asking forgiveness from Allah is saying : O Allah , you are my Lord , no God Except you , you created me and I am your slave , and I am on your covenant and your promise as long as I can , I seek refuge in you from evil which I did , I confess to you in your grace , and I confess to you in my sin, forgive me , only you forgive the Sins "

The Prophet added. "If somebody recites it during the day with
firm faith in it, and dies on the same day before the evening,
he will be from the people of Paradise; and if somebody
recites it at night with firm faith in it, and dies before the
morning, he will be from the people of Paradise"
Sahih Al-Bukhari

عن شداد بن أوس، عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: "سيد الاستغفار، أن يقول: اللهم أنت ربي، لا إله إلا أنت، خلقتني وأنا عبدك، وأنا على عهدك ووعدك ما استعطت، أعوذ بك من شر ما صنعتُ، أبوء لك بنعمتك، و أبوء لك بذنبي فاغفر لي؛ فإنه لا يغفر الذنوب إلا أنت". قال: " من قالها من النهار موقِناً بها، فمات من يومه قبل أن يمسي فهو من أهل الجنة، ومن قالها من الليل وهو موقن بها، فمات قبل أن يصبح فهو من أهل الجنة"
رواه البخاري أبوء : أعترف

Let's Prepare

I've been waiting for this moment forever. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah it's so close, I can feel it.

Ramadhan, that blessing month Ramadhan is just a couple of weeks away. My heart can finally come to rest. This blessed month is very near and it's important for us to be prepared.

A first would be to fast. You should take your time to make up your missed fasts before Ramadhan. If you already have done that then, mashaAllah! Here's option two : Fast the month of Sha'ban anyway. Don't wait 'til Ramadhan and be totally off day 1. Try to already get used to the feel of fasting and when Ramadhan comes you'll be ready to fast full-time.

Second, cleanse yourself, physically and spiriturally. Try not to stuff yourself when you're eating. Try to keep an eye on the things you eat so you can take care for your body properly. On the spirituality side, repent. Clean your heart for Ramadhan so you may fully benefit from it inshaAllah.

Third, make dua. Pray to Allah swt to make this the Ramadhan you needed all along. Although Ramadhan is near, that doesn't mean that we will make it there. Pray to Allah to keep you alive for Ramadhan. Make a list of everything you want in this world and in the akhira. Then when Ramadhan comes, convert it into a dua and read it every night so that maybe that night it may get accepted inshaAllah.

Lastly, try to pray your compulsory prayers and read from the Qur'an more so this can be a habit during the month inshaAllah.

Take Sha'ban and prepare. Ramadhan is the time where you can totally re invent yourself to become a better servant of Allah, so take this month and prepare.

May Allah swt make help us benefit from this Ramdhan and help us come closer to him. Ameen

ASA.

Don't give up!

(This post is dedicated to the sisters because this is a serious matter we're dealing with.)

Sisters, what do you look for in life? What do you seek?

Sometimes, I feel that some sisters think that Jannah is only for men, but that's not true.

Why are they thinking this way? Maybe because they pass by a bunch of ahadith that mention that majority of people in hell are women and that the amount of women from Dunya in Jannah are little. This is hadith, they are true.

BUT, these ahadith are not there to give up. Astaghfirullah, these are words of the Prophet sallalAllahu alayhi wa salam. These hadiths are here to warn us, to tell us not to be of these women.

So this is my message, don't give up. You possibly cannot do that. Not now, not ever.

Allah says in the Qur'an:

Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has Faith, verily, to him will We give a new Life, a life that is good and pure and We will bestow on such their reward according to the best of their actions. [16:97]

There are some sisters that when they read these ahadith, they give up and loose hope. No! Sisters you can give up, don't let Shaytan trick you! You're actually going to let yourself burn in Jahanamm? Heck no!

Allah is Al 'Adl, The Just. So you can't possibly give up and say you are doomed. These hadiths are here for encouragement, but sometimes when you read too many of them shaytaan whispers into your ear and tells you it's not worth it, there's no hope.

Don't bring yourself down. Read the hadiths that tell you of the great reward the muslimat can get!

Imam Ahmad narrated (17341) that ‘Ubaadah ibn al-Saamit said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us about the martyrs and mentioned among them, “A woman who is killed by the child in her womb attains martyrdom, and her child will drag her by his umbilical cord to Paradise.” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Kitaab al-Janaa’iz, p. 39.

Don't give up striving, don't throw your life away. Remember that Jannah is not free so there's no easy way in. Life's a test and you got to work hard for it.

Let's all strive to get into Jannah al-Firdaws inshaAllah.

May Allah keep us steadfast and strive and attain Jannah al-Firdaws. Ameen.

ASA.

Back-up Blog

I decided to make this the back up blog for seekingjannah.halalpress.com. HalalPress is currently down at the moment so I'll be posting here for the meantime inshaAllah.


ASA.